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When to use the Grafana Drilldown apps

When to use the Grafana Drilldown apps

The Grafana Drilldown apps are designed for exploration and investigation, not permanent monitoring.

Best use cases

  • Investigate alerts and explore data immediately
  • Discover what labels and fields exist in your metrics and logs
  • Verify that new metrics appeared, check log fields, explore unfamiliar systems
  • Understand what’s available before writing queries or building dashboards
  • Share findings with engineers who don’t know query languages

When to use something else

If you need…Use
Permanent monitoringDashboards + alerts
Complex aggregationsQuery editor
Custom visualizationsDashboard panels
Automated analysisRecording rules

Script

The Grafana Drilldown apps shine in specific scenarios. Let’s look at when they’re the right tool.

Quick investigation is the primary use case. When an alert fires or a dashboard shows something unusual, the Drilldown apps let you start exploring immediately. No need to open a query editor or remember syntax.

Learning your data structure is another strong use case. New to a system? The Drilldown apps show you what labels exist, what services are running, and how data is organized. It’s self-documenting.

Ad-hoc analysis fits well too. Checking if new metrics appeared after a deployment, verifying that logs contain expected fields, or just poking around to understand what’s available.

The Drilldown apps aren’t meant to replace dashboards or query editors entirely. They’re best for exploration and discovery, not for building complex queries or permanent visualizations. Once you find something worth monitoring, that’s when you create a dashboard or alert.

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